


Stumbling Forward

by PSA_Twig



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, Pokemon - Freeform, Racing, Team Rocket - Freeform, and more team rocket stuff that isn't jesse and james, dodou, dodrio - Freeform, pokemon racing, remember to read those contracts, we need more pokemon racing here, yes you heard that pokemon racing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-21
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-07 18:11:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13440393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PSA_Twig/pseuds/PSA_Twig
Summary: Dylan has always dreamed of being a champion, but not with pokemon battling, no no thats too simple and too common. No he wants to be the best pokemon racer in the world and with his partner Chase a Dodou, he thinks he has a shot at becoming one. But life is never that simple. Now all he can do is recount on where his life took a turn and hope for the best.





	1. Chapter 1

Race day was the best day of the month, the bright sun, the fresh air and the many pokemon and riders who flocked to the starting line. 

 

The crowds were starting to shout out for their favorite riders as they settled in their seats with buttery snacks and bubbly drinks.  Between their shouts and the banners it made one feel like they were on top of the world, even if this was the beginners race group.

 

A young boy, only 7 grinned as he looked up at the crowds searching for the family that had brought him to the festival.  Yet as his hazel eyes looked over the crowds his attention was drawn back to the pokemon he was sat on as a narrow beak pulled lightly at his short brown hair.

 

"Chase, stop that," he pouted as he turned his attention to the two headed bird that he was sitting on.

 

Chase the Dodou seemed happy with its young owner and rider and chirped happily.  Yet both heads pointed to the man who was in the tower above them with a flag.

 

The race was about to begin and the boy's heart was starting to beat loudly as he hastily pulled his goggles on and tightened his grip on the leather wrap. He was already shifting in eagerness for the starting gun to fire.

 

Any minute now.

 

3

 

2

 

1

 

BANG

 

****

 

BANG

 

The judge's gavel slammed down to silence the chatter that ran through the court room.

 

The same brown hair, hazel eyed boy was now a young man standing at the defense stand dressed in orange and with his hands and legs chained together.  His face was littered with healing scratches and a nasty knot on his forehead that was starting to go down.

 

His heart was beating quickly as he could feel all eyes on him, yet as he looked back for someone familiar all he got were hot glares.

 

"Dylan  Ott, professional pokemon racer from Safari Land, Kanto. You are here for alleged pokemon theft, armed kidnapping, breaking and entering, pokemon smuggling, rigged racing, illegally gambling  and being a member of Team Rocket. This is a rather long list of things and to speak truly I don't see you talking your way out of this. Nor running away from this. What do you say to these charges?"

 

Dylan felt like he was starting to suffocate under the weight of his crimes.  Unfortunately his face gave away how he was handling the news. And soon his lawyer put their hand on his shoulder whispering something to him.

 

"You need to say 'guilty' that’s the only way that this is going to go good for you." she whispered in his ear as he slowly nodded his head.

 

The words left his throat slowly as if this was the first time he had ever spoken before.

 

He didn't want this.

 

Yet this was the result of a series of mistakes made since he was 10.  15 years of mistakes that all came back to that single day when he was having the best day of his life.

 

He ruined his career, his remaining family, his lover all with that signature. 

 


	2. Chapter 2

15 Years Ago

 

The starting gun fired, the line of well breed pokemon and their racers darted off.

 

Dylan was only ten years old, yet instead of leaving his home or at least what was left of it for a journey for pokemon,  he was racing . Not just because it was the only thing that he had in this world still and it allowed him to get away from everything  but because maybe just maybe if he did well enough the siblings who's lives he had ruined would be happy with him.  Just maybe for once if he won enough races and gave them his winnings they would forgive him for the fire that took everything from them.

 

All he had to do was win with his buddy Chase who from what he could remember at the starting line was one of only a  few unevolved pokemon.  Full grown rapidash and dodrio along with tauros were going to be hard to beat but they had done it before. All he had to do was make sure that they made it through this race and everything would be good.

 

"Come on Chase!!" he shouted as he held onto the thin strap he called a rein and lowered himself as low as he could to the pokemon's bobbing form to reduce drag. He had skipped both dinner and breakfast for this race and it was going to pay off he just knew it. 

 

Leaning left and right while shouting the calls to Chase they bobbed in and out of taller racers all while making sure not to get cornered or pinned against other racers and the rails.

 

Mud was being picked up and his goggles were clearly spotted with mud but he held fast to his position and made sure to keep Chase aimed for the ever approaching lead racer and the finish line. 

 

It was an older rapidash and while the flames that trailed behind it ran hot there was no way around it but gritting their way past the hot air to the front. 

 

"Almost there!" he shouted at Chase ignoring the fact that the racer next to them was spurring their pokemon to go faster.

 

The finish line was right there, there was a roar that echoed around them and a flash off to the side.

 

Yet they both kept running until the stable hands at the end of the track waved their checkered flag for them to slow down. The race was over, 500 yards of dirt and mud was covered in record time and despite the fact that neither Dylan or the older racer could hear the crowds clearly or see the scoreboard the winner had already been announced.

 

The stable hands told them to remain riding but asked them to follow them to the middle of the racing green.  Allowing himself to sit up Dylan groaned as he felt a wave of dizziness hit him but managed to stay on his pokemon as they made their way towards the roaring crowds. 

 

Chase was breathing a bit heavier than normal and the rapidash was breathing heavily.  Perhaps having two sets of lungs was better than one.  Either way it seemed that three sets of eyes, two lungs and one very strong set of legs was better than a known racer by just a hair. 

 

Halfway to the green the rapidash and its rider were dismissed back to the stables to dress down, while Dylan could only hug Chase's necks as they were gifted with flowers and the cheers of many unknown people as photos were being snapped of them.

 

This was a dream come true as the purse was all for him and he broke the record of being the youngest racer to ever win the Kanto Standard.

 

They had done it and his heart welled up with joy, if only his parents were around to see how far their youngest son had come.

 

His eyes searched the stands for his two older siblings yet once again they weren't there. Maybe they didn't come once again… or maybe they were looking for him coming into the winners  circle to congratulate him.  

 

Slipping off dodou he looked around, with so many adults around him it was kind of hard to look past them. But he tried to look for the family he had left only to have a strong hand come to rest on his shoulder.

 

"Hey kid, great race out there. I'll really like to talk to you after the both of you clean up so come to my tent okay?" A man with a smooth smile said as he handed Dylan a card with a star on it. 

 

It was odd, but then again most adults were odd. And the man for some reason was wearing an orange suit of all things. Oh well rich people, he guessed.

 

"I will," he said watching as the man slipped off as the crowds took more photos of him and dodou.

 

***

After washing both Chase and himself and checking out with Nurse Joy, Dylan walked through the festival grounds looking for the man and his tent.  Chase had earned a good rest and being dressed like a normal kid did allow him to walk around somewhat without being swarmed by adults.

 

It took some walking but eventually he found a tent with a red star  flag hanging from its raised staff. It was odd, this was a sponsor   area where people were getting to see all sort of sponsors that the racers had and could even grab some free high end pokemon food to try.  There were plenty of logos all around the area but this one only had a red star on its flag and a white tent with a few people handing out some fans from behind a table blocking the door.

 

Once again it was odd but Dylan walked up to the table and was promptly handed a fan.

 

"Uhh I'm here to speak to some man,"

 

A woman with reddish hair who hand handed him the fan frowned some but gave him a light cheeky smile.

 

"You must be confused, Mister Anderson  doesn't speak to anyone. " her smile was light and she called out to the crowds while handing out fans to passerbyers.

 

"But he said to come and find his tent." Dylan said as he pulled the slightly dirty card out from his pocket and handed it to her. Yet  while she seemed intent on shoving off the card the man next to her gave the woman a sharp nudge before offering Dylan a  large smile as he stood up.

 

"Oh you must be the winner Dylan Ott!" he grinned as he clapped his hands and motioned for him to come around the table. "Sorry about that we didn't know that you were such an important person. Please come this way I'll bring you to Mister Anderson."

 

Young Dylan blinked a few times but smiled lightly as he was lead back into the tent. The inside was rather clean and oddly seemed like an office setting compared to a sponsor tent.

 

A heavy looking wooden desk stood on one end with seats with a few banners behind them. On a table on the other side of the room was a plate setting of food, freshly made sandwiches and chips sat untouched along with bottled water.

 

Dylan looked back to the man who had lead him into the tent and saw that he was pulling out the chair that sat before the desk.

 

"Please come and take a seat, Mister Anderson will be with you in just a bit."  The man said with a smile before slipping out once again leaving Dylan alone.

 

Of course though after not eating for about 12 hours he was starving and the tray of sandwiches sitting on the other side of  the tent we're simply too tempting to try and pass up.  Slowly he started to slip out of his chair and moved silently towards the table of food. So far the other man had not popped back into the tent and he was sure that he would finish his meal before Mister Anderson was to arrive. 

 

Leaning up onto the table he eyed the food before him. It was too easy to see that one was missing if he took it from the top of the pile, yet he couldn't see anything else that would do better. Taking one last glance behind him he reached up and snatched a sandwich for himself and stuffed it in his mouth before reaching back to move another sandwich in order to hide what he had done.

 

He would of gotten away with it if not for the low chuckle that came from behind him as the man, Mister Anderson, stepped into the tent spotting him.

 

Dylan turned quickly, his mouth stuffed full of sandwich and his eyes wide. Yet Mister Anderson only laughed some.

 

"Go ahead and help yourself, after the performance that you gave today you deserve to eat something good. " The man said his white teeth flashing brightly.

 

Dylan paused for a moment but seeing how the man turned to take a seat on the other side of the desk he reached back for a few more sandwiches and a water.  Of course this time with a plate to hold them all.

 

"I have to say we did not expect you to win that race nor for you to beat the original man we were looking at. But I say that was all a happy accident because now I have you and a very good deal just for you Dylan. "

 

"Is it a sponsorship?"

 

The man grinned, his dark eyes watching Dylan closely.  "Something like that, see Dylan its not hard to find out information about you. Word is that you've been doing this for a good while now, though both you and your siblings recently had some hardships a few years ago." he said making Dylan pause and lower his sandwich.

 

 "Look its nothing to get upset about kid," he man said lowering his head some to look at Dylan and to keep his attention.  "The thing is thanks to your hard work I, well we. Me and my organization are willing to help  you out so then you're able to do what you want to do and your sibling. They never have to worry about doing what they want to do." he said as Dylan looked up at him looking a bit hurt but also hopeful.

 

"I've been helping them with my winnings but it never seems to be enough." Dylan started to say with a sigh.

 

"Well if you join us, then you'll never have to worry about giving your siblings your winning again." The man said with a certain charm that Dylan didn't know to be wary of.  "You'll be able to race as much as you want, you're siblings will be able to do what they want and all you have to do right now is sign this contract." He said as he pulled a stack of papers from his coat and pulled a pen out from his pocket.

 

"I just have to sign?" Dylan asked as he put his plate down and sat up a bit straighter to try and get a better look at the thick stack of papers that was handed to him.

 

"Yup, you sign this in a few places and then I'll be your go to person. I'll make sure everything goes smoothly for your sibling and that you get to race as much as you want." he added.

 

A moment of hesitation passed Dylan's face as he grabbed the pen and looked at the highlighted line that was for him to sign.

 

"Why is it so thick, the contract?"

 

"Oh that’s just to make sure that we both understand what is expected of us.  Basically as long as you keep racing and working for us everything will be alright." He added with a sly look in his eyes.

 

Dylan bit his bottom lip but the idea of being able to race and his siblings being tooken care of made it hard to not try to say no.

 

After all he had caused them all their current problems, the least he could do was go and try to fix them.

 

" Just sign here, here and here."

 

Dylan took his time with the signing though his young eyes looked up at the large blocks of tiny text. "What does T.R. stand for?" he asked as Mister Anderson gave a hum.

 

"Oh that’s just the parent company that we work under. No worries, you'll be introduced to them when you're ready for it. " he added as Dylan continued to sign his name on the various highlighted lines that were on different pages.  "Now one more signature on this page." he trailed out before smiling widely.

 

"Well Dylan Ott, Welcome to Red Star here is your first check." Anderson said as he pulled out a check from his coat and handed it to a wide eyed Dylan.  "For every win you'll get a bonus along with whatever you earned from the race. What you do with this money is up to you, but I would keep it a secret from your sibling okay?" he asked making Dylan, still wide eyed, nod his head.

 

"Good boy, now go home and rest  up. I'll be in contact with you for some training."

**Author's Note:**

> So this might sound familiar if you've ever looked up Pokemon stuff on Fanfiction.net or Smackjeeves. Well *winces* thats because its me the same person who hasn't finished either one of those versions. The first version I didn't like, the comic version I ran out of time to draw and the story got hung up. But this time I've gotten it figured out and don't worry I'll get this out there for all of you to enjoy.


End file.
